Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. Last week we discussed five Eastern Conference teams most likely to end up in the Play-In tournament. Looking back this week, The Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors have shown that they are not out of the race yet, mainly because the Chicago Bulls are struggling to fit in their new players. It only makes for a more interesting race and hopefully, these teams will fight it out until the end of the regular season. This week, we’re looking at five teams in the Western Conference most likely to make it to the Play-In game. We will focus on the teams currently in and under the Play-In game spots, because the top of the West is wide open. A lot will change at the top of the ladder in the Western Conference in the coming weeks, I’m sure of it. Now, get ready for you All-NBA Team of the Week.
PICK #1
Our first pick of the week are the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs are currently in the 7th spot and most likely to get to the Play-Offs because the team in 7th spot is the only team that is allowed to lose 1 game in the Play-In tournament and still qualify for the Play-Offs. Rules aside, the Mavs are also the strongest team in our selection this week. They struggled in the beginning of the season, with Luka Doncic out of shape and Kristaps Porzingis injured, but, after the All-Star game, they finally started playing like the spectacular team they were in the bubble. If Dallas can keep winning, they will be holding to the 7th spot or maybe even sneak into the Play-Off spots.
But that’s the issue with Dallas this season. Every time it looks like they are on a run, they start losing again. In their last 6 games, they lost 4 times. Almost 5 times because they needed an amazing buzzer beater from Luka against the Grizzlies to walk away with a 1 point win. The Mavs are inconsistent, and they know it. They are nervous in the locker room, with Luka expressing he is not impressed by the new Play-In game rules. "You play 72 games to get in the playoffs, then maybe you lose two in a row and you're out of the playoffs. I don't see the point of that." Luka said earlier this week. Would he have said this if Dallas was currently sitting safely among the Play-Off spots?
It is understandable that they are worried. Dallas has been fighting hard to get to this 7th spot and they are getting tired. You don’t want to start the Play-Offs tired. They want to be able to rest some of their players and cruise right into the first round of the Play-Offs. Without the Play-In games, the Mavs would be pretty comfortable in the 7th spot, being 3 games in front of number 9. But the league has created the Play-In games especially to avoid teams cruising towards the end of the season. Nobody wants to watch games with teams not trying, the introduction of the Play-In tournament has been fantastic for basketball fans so far. Dallas will have to keep fighting to the end of the regular season. But they’ll make it into the Play-Offs and will prove a hard matchup for whoever they get to play. As it stands right now, they’ll meet the Suns in the first round. I’m sure they would be pretty happy with that in Dallas.
PICK #2
Our second pick of the week are the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizz have been very average this season, they have been around the .500 all season long. For every game they win, they lose one and have very rarely gone on a run. But even that is surprising. The Grizzlies are the youngest team in the league and are missing their best player, Jaren Jackson Jr. This is not a team that anyone expected to be in contention for the Play-In games, let alone be one of the best 8 teams in the West. But the Grizzlies are a tough team and don’t give up. Led by point guard Ja Morant, still only in his 2nd year in the league and center Jonas Valanciunas, who is ranked 2nd in PER among centers in the west, just after Nikola Jokic.
Last season, the Grizzlies played a fantastic regular season and placed themselves comfortably in the 8th spot by the time the league stopped the regular season. In the bubble, they lost Jaren Jackson Jr very early on with a knee injury that has sidelined him since then. They lost 6 out of 8 games and only made it into the Play-In game against Portland because of the Bucks that were resting their best players in the last game. Without Jackson Jr this season, nobody expected the Grizzlies to win many games and their predicted spot would be among the lottery teams.
But the young players have shown that they progress quickly in Memphis. Ja struggled slightly early on in the season with the added attention on the court after winning Rookie of the Year but is playing better than ever now. Dillon Brooks is showing that he is a great perimeter defender, getting under the skin of some of the best players in the world. Valanciunas is playing his best season ever and De’Anthony Melton is one of the most underrated players in the league, who makes his team better in almost every stat when on the court. When JJJr returns and these guys have another year of experience under their belt, they will be in contention for the Play-Offs. Every year.
PICK #3
Our third pick of the week are the Golden State Warriors. Or soon to be named the Steph Curry Warriors. Even though his team has been lacking, Curry has been picking up the slack. He has been playing amazing and he is the reason that the Warriors are still in contention for the Play-In game. In his last ten games, he is averaging over 39 points, and he hasn’t scored under 32 points in a single game. The only game he didn’t play in that stretch, the Warriors lost by 53 points, showing how important he is for his team.
Watching Curry play is an honour, you’re watching history being written in front of our eyes. There is no other player like him, and there hasn’t been in the past. And it is quite sad having to think that this calibre of player, in his prime, is not in a position to compete for the title. Losing Klay Thompson just before the season started has been a very hard blow for the Warriors and they haven’t really recovered from it. Kelly Oubre is trying but is not really fitting in, Wiggins is Wiggins and is getting his numbers without contributing much to the overall play. Draymond has completely lost his shot and rookie James Wiseman has lost faith in his game. The team has slowly fallen apart over the season and now that Wiseman is out with an injury, it will be even harder for the Warriors to mean anything in the Play-Offs.
The season is a wash and Draymond spoke for everyone when he said that he hates losing. “That's what motivates me, not fighting for some play-in spot.” he said. The Warriors will likely make it to the Play-In game, but they’ll have to win twice to make it to the Play-Offs. As it stands right now, they’ll have to play the Spurs to decide who will play against Dallas or Memphis for the final spot in the Play-Offs. But if Curry can keep his current form, you would be stupid to bet against them.
PICK #4
Our fourth pick of the week are the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs have been surprising this season, to say the least. After missing the Play-Offs last year, for the first time in 22 seasons, it was consensus around the league that the Spurs would rebuild and be bad for a few years at least. But Pop, one of the best coaches in NBA history, thought otherwise. Yes, the Spurs are in a rebuild, dropping LaMarcus Aldridge earlier in the season. Yes, the Spurs are playing with the youngest roster that Pop has ever coached. No, the Spurs are not bad. Pop has surrounded DeMar DeRozan with young talent and the veterans coming off the bench, Patty Mills and Rudy Gay are all performing on a very high level.
DeRozan, in his twelfth season in the league, is having a great season. He is averaging 21 points, 4.5 rebounds and 7 assists per game. He has never dished out more dimes per game in his career. Youngsters Dejounte Murray and Keldon Johnson are playing well off DeRozan and are bright sparks in the future of the Spurs. Jakob Poetl pushed LaMarcus Aldridge out the door this season because he is a more reliable big man for Pop’s players. Their surprising season has kept them quite high in the standings all year long but recently they started slipping down to the 10th spot.
Whether or not the Spurs make the Play-In game, that is not their main concern. Pop wants to establish a winning culture for his players while rebuilding around them. The next question they have to ask themselves is if they want to keep DeRozan. The 31-year old is still playing at a high level and can be important for a team competing for a title now. By the time the Spurs’ young core is up there, DeRozan will be pretty much retired. But another question that will be going through everyone’s head is how long Pop will be the coach for? The 72-year old won’t be able to coach this team forever and the franchise has some great assistant coaches waiting to take over.
PICK #5
Our fifth pick of the week are the New Orleans Pelicans. Currently sitting in 11th spot, just outside of the Play-In spots, the Pelicans are chasing that 10th spot. A familiar sight to last season, when the whole bubble was set up so the Pelicans could make it to the Play-In as well. They failed last year and right now, it looks like they’ll fail again. Of all the teams in the bottom five spots in the West, they are the only one not trying to lose. And yet, they struggle to win games.
The Pelicans can’t seem to figure out to put Zion in a position to win. Funnily enough, you can put Zion in any position, and as long as you give him the ball, he will win. That is the problem for the Pelicans, they seem scared to trust Zion with the ball. All they need to do is give Zion the ball and move out of the way. Coming from the top of the key, he is unstoppable. Getting the ball on the block, close to the ring, he is unstoppable. Leave him out of your offense, the Pelicans are stoppable. Brandon Ingram is still considered as the most important part of their team but it is losing them games, especially close ones.
Don’t get me wrong, Ingram is a great player who could be very important for another team, even for a contending team. He is just not the right guy to play next to Zion. Once the Pelicans can see that, hopefully they can put the right pieces next to Zion. All they need is shooters and ball handlers to move the ball around. The Pelicans need to keep winning to edge out the Spurs for the 10th spot, giving them a chance to make it to the Play-Offs but having to match up against either the Warriors, the Grizzlies or the Mavericks, I don’t believe they’ll make it. Something needs to change in New Orleans or they will lose their superstar very quickly.
This is our All-NBA team of the Week. Please share our podcast and give us 5 stars. If you have any questions, you can contact the show on eight2fouroffice@gmail.com. Thank you for listening, ballers out!